12-08-2012, 07:00 AM | #76 |
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@holymadness The "minimal" mode (hiding titles and footers from page) has made it into the update that should be out next week.
@Shykat A "percentage into the book" value is shown in the page header to compensate for lack of overall book page count. The is making it too in next week's update. You can check out the final list of changes for more details and to see what they'll look like here: http://marvinapp.com/whatsnew.html |
12-08-2012, 08:01 AM | #77 |
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Yes, improving English makes sense - even though I'm German, I mostly read in English. :-) Still, nice to hear support for other languages is not out of scope.
To be more concrete about helping - I've studied German (linguistics) and English, am an iOS dev myself and, of course, I'm willing to test betas or anything like that. I've been dabbling with an ebook reader myself for a year now but I'm just lacking time to really polish it and, now that Marvin mostly does (or is headed towards) what I wanted to do, the motivation. :) The one thing I'm a bit worried about with respect to Marvin is the buy-out risk - my previously preferred ebook reader, Stanza, got bought and killed by Amazon. Thus, my reader (even though currently unpublished) is under an open-source licence (which doesn't prevent it from being sold on the AppStore). Applied to Marvin, such a model would allow people to buy/licence it on the AppStore but in case of it being bought by <big, "evil" company>, someone could fork the last F/OSS version and keep on working on it. This might, at first, look like a somewhat far-fetched worry but Marvin is already getting a lot of attention and is likely to draw more. What are your feelings about such an idea, Kris? |
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12-08-2012, 08:54 AM | #78 |
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Hi Philantrop,
I assure your that when I start working on the analysis of other languages, I'll get in touch. I am very sensitive about your "here today, gone tomorrow" concern. It was around the time I was switching from my Sony Reader to iPad that I picked Stanza and soon after it started going away. It was very upsetting, so I know what you're talking about. At this moment, although I'm not excluding the possibility, I'm not planning to open source Marvin but I'll be doing my best to avoid such a scenario. |
12-08-2012, 10:01 AM | #79 |
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Kris, I know I'm gushing again about your app, but I can't help it. You have thought of so many small details. I just realized last night that the color of the book marker could be changed even. I was truly amazed.
I think you should be very proud of yourself. I hope you never have to open source Marvin, I have a feeling no one else would pay attention to details like you do. Maybe it's time to release a 'lite' version and a pay version? Word is spreading like wild fire and you are missing an opportunity to make some money. Last edited by mycurlylocks; 12-08-2012 at 10:04 AM. |
12-08-2012, 10:22 AM | #80 |
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Thank you for a great app, for all the hard work, and for being so responsive to the community. I am still using iBooks at the moment, but I expect that will change soon.
I am really looking forward to the two-column support and that would get my vote for priority -- it seems like a silly little thing, but in practice it makes a huge difference. One other request, I was a little surprised not to find any sans-serif fonts, aside from Open Dyslexic. Any chance of adding one or two? Many of us would like to support your efforts. Perhaps an optional font pack (too subtle?). You may want to avoid the in-app purchase route, just to bypass the IAP lawsuit going on, but lite versions work well also. Thank you again! |
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12-08-2012, 10:56 AM | #81 |
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@GntlmnBndt Thanks for your kind words.
Marvin does have sans-serif fonts - this list of fonts is scrollable. Actually the lack of sans-serif fonts was a reason people complained on the App Store but in fact they are there. In the update, I added a label to make it more obvious that the list of fonts (and theme colours) is scrollable. |
12-08-2012, 11:05 AM | #82 |
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@mycurlylocks Personally, I have a bit of an aversion to lite and crippled versions of apps. I'm hoping that Marvin gains some traction and positive feedback while it is free so that, in the future, whenever I start charging for Marvin, people will "believe" enough to drop a couple of dollars on it. Very early on when I was floating the idea of charging $2.99 for it, people felt it was terribly expensive. But that's how it is on the App Store.
In a perfect world, I'd find an alternative way to make Marvin sustainable and keep it free forever. Any ideas are more than welcome. |
12-08-2012, 11:10 AM | #83 |
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You could ease your conscience by giving the app a review, that might help it gain traction later when it's no longer free.
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12-08-2012, 11:46 AM | #84 |
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12-08-2012, 11:47 AM | #85 |
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Thanks. Give me some time for the iPhone version
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12-08-2012, 11:55 AM | #86 | |
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Quote:
On the other hand, I am already liking the app even more. It is a really nice app, and I am very much looking forward to some of the upcoming features! Thank you again! |
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12-08-2012, 12:00 PM | #87 |
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No need to feel dumb... could have been more obvious, and in the update it will be.
Just a small note... at the bottom of the home screen there is a small "light bulb" icon. If you tap it you'll see Marvin's tutorial that explains many of the more "hidden" features. At the bottom of most screens, you'll also see a "?" icon that will show extra details and most of what you can do on that screen. |
12-08-2012, 12:15 PM | #88 |
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Kris,
Personally I like 'lite' versions. I like to try before I buy. What I don't like is when an app hides the charge for the full version in the app. I prefer a choice of downloading the 'lite' version or seeing the full app with price in the App Store. What I truly hate is when a 'lite' version constantly nags me to buy the full version. I know I can buy the full app, I don't need a pop-up every five minutes. $2.99 is nothing for an app. I'd easily pay $4.99 to $6.99. I've never understood some people. They will spend $400-$800 on an iPad, but want apps for 99 cents. They don't even think of the developer's time and stress. |
12-08-2012, 12:30 PM | #89 |
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I agree with not trying to create an all inclusive app. It is probably better to make it an ePub only reading app. Later if there is enough demand create separate apps for other formats like mobi or comics. FYI, Most of the apps I've seen that try to include multiple formats usually do one well and the rest look like an old DOS text file.
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12-08-2012, 12:45 PM | #90 |
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My strategy for opening Mobi (if) is to do an "under the bonnet" conversion to ePub during import. If I can achieve the quality that Calibre outputs using conversion then it would be fine.
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